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Sen. Goeff Hansen: Trooper Butterfield is 'hero' for making the 'ultimate sacrifice' for his community

Press conference about the shooting death of Michigan State Police Trooper Paul Butterfield

Rockford State Police Post Commander Lt. Chris McIntire is pictured wearing an honorary black band on his badge as he addresses the media on September 10, 2013 about the shooting death of Trooper Paul Butterfield in Mason County on the evening of September 9.
(Ken Stevens | ksteven2@mlive.com)

LANSING, MI – Michigan Sen. Goeff Hansen’s 34th Senate District includes the scene of the fatal shooting of Michigan State Police Trooper Paul Butterfield in Mason County and the trooper’s Hart post.

The citizens of the communities in the 34th District, which includes Muskegon, Oceana, Newaygo and Mason counties, are devastated by the Tuesday, Sept. 9 shooting incident on Custer Road near Townline Road in Mason County, Hansen told MLive and The Muskegon Chronicle.

Butterfield was found with a gunshot wound to the head at the scene of the traffic stop. His initial identification to police dispatchers of the car and its occupants prior to the traffic stop allowed police to bring a male and female suspect into custody a short time later north at a convenience store near Wellston in Manistee County.

State police officials report that the male suspect was shot prior to being taken into custody and is hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Butterfield was airlifted to Traverse City’s Munson Hospital and died while in emergency surgery, state police officials reported.

Paul Butterfield

Butterfield joined the Michigan State Police in 1999, after graduating with the 118th Trooper Recruit School. He served first in the Manistee post and then the Hart post for a total of 14 years with the state police.

He was an U.S. Army and Michigan National Guard veteran. Butterfield was a track and cross-country athlete at Bridgeport High School near Saginaw, where he graduated in 1988. He attended the University of Tennessee-Knoxville from 1988-1993 and ran track and cross country there as well.

Hansen, who lives in Hart, said he does not believe he had ever met Butterfield.

“He is certainly a hero,” Hansen said. “He gave the ultimate sacrifice for our community and the state.”